Courts can’t raise salaries: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Thursday set aside the decision of Peshawar High Court enhancing five percent allowance to those employees who were already getting special allowances.

The court ruled that the learned high court had no power to order increasing salaries as well as allowances as it was the prerogative of governments and the court should not interfere in such matters, the media reports.

According to Atif Ali Khan, Additional Advocate General KP, the federal government had issued a notification enhancing the Ad-hoc allowances of 10 percent to government employees from Grade 1 to 16 and 5 percent to employees from Grade 17 to Grade 20.

Similarly, he said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government also enhanced the allowance 10 percent to employees from Grade 1 to 16 and five percent to officers from Grade 16-Grade 19.

The law officer said that the Peshawar High Court after admitting their appeals had ordered last year to the provincial government to also enhance five percent judicial allowance of the petitioners.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that the government usually spends the money acquired by loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pay salaries and later it faces shortage of funds for the development work.